EU textile label: what Regulation 1007/2011 requires on clothing and fabrics

If you sell clothing, home textiles or fabrics into the EU, every item needs a label or marking that names each fibre and its percentage by weight, largest first, using only the fibre names the Regulation lists. The same composition must show in the online listing before the buyer pays, and the label is written in the language of the country where the buyer lives, unless that country allows otherwise. Apart from the sentence on animal-origin parts, where it applies, the label states fibre composition and nothing else the Regulation asks for. Size, country of origin and care instructions are not part of it.

What you do:

1. Check that the product is in scope. A product with at least 80 % textile fibres by weight is treated as a textile product (Art. 2(2)(a)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 2, paragraph 2, point (a)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Look through the exemptions below: some products need no label.
2. Work out the composition by weight and write every fibre by its Annex I name, largest first (Art. 5(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 5, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 9(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 9, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Brand names are not Annex I names.
3. Write “100 %”, “pure” or “all” only if the product is made of one fibre (Art. 7(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 7, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
4. Put the composition on the product as a durable, legible, visible, securely attached label, or as a marking (Art. 14(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 14, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
5. Write it in the official language or languages of each country where the consumer buys, unless that country provides otherwise (Art. 16(3)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
6. Show the same composition in the listing, the catalogue and on the packaging, where the buyer sees it before the purchase (Art. 16(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
7. If the product holds down, feather, leather, bone, pearl or horn, add “Contains non-textile parts of animal origin” (Art. 12(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 12, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
8. Decide who supplies the label: you, if you are the manufacturer, if you bring the goods in from outside the EU, or if you sell under your own name or trademark, attach the label yourself or change its content (Art. 15Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

Leave the label off and the product may not be made available on the EU market (Art. 4Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Market surveillance authorities check that the label matches the fibres in the product (Art. 18Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 18Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Regulation sets no fine. Each country lays down its own penalties for a breach (Art. 41Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 41Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., with the Regulation on the list of Annex II, point 17).

The Regulation covers products with at least 80 % textile fibres, and its label covers fibre composition only

The Regulation applies to textile products “when made available on the Union market” (Art. 2(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A textile product is any raw, semi-worked, worked, semi-manufactured, manufactured, semi-made-up or made-up product “exclusively composed of textile fibres” (Art. 3(1)(a)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 3, paragraph 1, point (a)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Beyond that, the Regulation treats these products in the same way:

Two things are outside it. Work contracted out to home workers or independent firms that process materials supplied to them, without the property in them being transferred for consideration, is outside (Art. 2(3)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 2, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Customised textile products made up by self-employed tailors are outside as well (Art. 2(4)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 2, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission’s FAQ reads that as one-off pieces for a client, whether sold through a website or any other channel, and says the Regulation still applies to non-customised products a tailor sells (FAQ 2.2).

What the label does not carry is as important. The Commission states that the Regulation does not cover size, country of origin or wash and care labelling. Its FAQ adds that the Regulation sets no information requirement about the producer or importer (the product safety rules do ask for the maker’s name and address, see GPSR labelling requirements), about substances that may harm health, about the materials and methods of manufacture, or about instructions and warnings for using the product. A seller may add country of origin or social and environmental information if it is not misleading, displayed separately from the composition (FAQ 2.6).

Only the fibre names of Annex I may describe the composition

“Only the textile fibre names listed in Annex I shall be used for the description of fibre compositions on labels and markings” (Art. 5(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 5, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Annex I holds 50 numbered entries in two tables. Table 1 lists natural fibres (numbers 1 to 18) and Table 2 manufactured fibres (numbers 19 to 50). The names you meet most:

More than one fibre can share an Annex I entry: number 2 groups alpaca, llama, camel, cashmere, mohair, angora, vicuna, yak, guanaco, cashgora, beaver and otter, “followed or not by the word ‘wool’ or ‘hair’”. Number 48 is a catch-all for fibres from other materials, named after the material, such as metal, asbestos or paper, “followed or not by the word ‘yarn’ or ‘fibre’”. The word “silk” cannot describe the shape of a continuous filament yarn of other fibres (Art. 5(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 5, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

You may add information next to the composition, if it is not misleading and is displayed separately: the Commission’s examples are “100% wool - merino” and “polyester - recycled fibres” (FAQ 3.1, 2.7, Art. 16(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A breed name alone such as “merino” does not satisfy the rule, because the word “wool” has to appear (FAQ 3.1). The Regulation requires no word like “recycled” and allows one (FAQ 2.7).

List every fibre by weight, largest first, and keep “100 %” for one fibre

A product is labelled with “the name and percentage by weight of all constituent fibres in descending order” (Art. 9(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 9, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Two products with the same fibres in different percentages cannot share one label (FAQ 3.4). Five rules shape the list.

Components under 30 % of the weight need no label of their own, but they still count in the composition of the whole product (FAQ 2.9, 3.6). Annex VII lists what is left out of the calculation: non-textile parts, selvedges, labels and badges, accessories, decorations, non-elastic ribbons, elastic threads at specific and limited points, and the fatty substances, binders, sizings and dressings of processing, with separate lists for floor coverings, upholstery fabrics, hangings and curtains, socks and tights, and a general list for all other products that adds interlinings, stitching threads, fillings with no insulating function and, subject to Art. 11(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 11, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., linings. Annex IV sets special rules for corsetry, etch-printed and embroidered textiles, core-and-cover yarns, velvet and plush, and carpets whose backing and use-surface differ (Art. 13Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 13Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The tolerance is 3 percent against a laboratory result, and extraneous fibres below 2 percent need no mention

The Regulation measures composition by laboratory analysis, and the label is allowed a small gap from the result. The rules are in Art. 20Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 20Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.. Annex IX is not a tolerance: it holds the agreed allowances, the moisture values a laboratory applies to the dry mass of each fibre before it calculates the percentage (Art. 19(3)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 19, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Commission reads the 3 % as the difference between the weight measured under Art. 19Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 19Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. and the weight on the label. In its words it is “current practice of EU laboratories” that a product labelled 30 % of fibre x and 70 % of fibre y passes with 30 ± 3 and 70 ± 3 (FAQ 3.2). The checks use the methods of Annex VIII or harmonised standards (Art. 19(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 19, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The label goes on the product, and packaging or documents replace it only in set cases

Textile products are labelled or marked “whenever they are made available on the market”, and the label or marking is “durable, easily legible, visible and accessible and, in the case of a label, securely attached” (Art. 14(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 14, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A label is a piece attached to the product. A marking is information put directly on it by sewing, embroidering, printing, embossing or another technology (Art. 3(1)(g)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 3, paragraph 1, point (g)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 3(1)(h)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 3, paragraph 1, point (h)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). You choose between them (FAQ 6.6).

• Commercial documents can replace or add to the label only when the product goes to another business in the supply chain, or is delivered on a public contracting authority’s order (Art. 14(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 14, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., FAQ 6.1, 6.5). The fibre names in them follow the same rules. Abbreviations are not allowed, except a mechanised processing code or an abbreviation defined in an international standard and explained in the same document (Art. 14(3)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 14, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Packaging does not replace the label. A sticker on a sealed polybag does not remove the need for a label on the product, unless the product is on Annex V, is on Annex VI and needs only an inclusive label, or is sold by the metre or in cut lengths. For the last two, the overall packaging or the roll is enough (FAQ 6.7). The Commission understands “securely attached” to allow a label on the package where attaching it to the product would inevitably ruin or damage the product (FAQ 6.3).
• Size and font are not set. There is no harmonised rule on the minimum size of the characters (FAQ 6.3). The composition must be in print that is uniform in size, style and font (Art. 16(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Your brand may stand immediately before or after the composition. If the brand or company name contains a fibre name from Annex I, alone or as a root or adjective, or a name liable to be confused with one, it must stand there. Everything else appears separately (Art. 16(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Second-hand clothes are covered. In principle a garment without a composition label does not meet the rule, the Commission says. Where the composition cannot be established, the buyer must be told explicitly that they are buying “old made-up textile products”, an Annex V category (FAQ 8.5).

The composition must show before purchase, in the listing, the catalogue and on the packaging

This is the rule for online sellers. When a textile product is made available, the composition descriptions “shall be indicated in catalogues and trade literature, on packaging, labels and markings”, and the information “shall be clearly visible to the consumer before the purchase, including in cases where the purchase is made by electronic means” (Art. 16(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Commission reads this to include paper and electronic promotional material. The composition has to be there with the other product information, notably the price, whenever the material makes a sales transaction possible, including telephone or online purchases. Its examples are TV commercials and advertising campaigns that offer a distance purchase (FAQ 6.9). A product listing with a price and a buy button is such material. Put the composition next to the price.

A seller outside the EU is in the same position as one inside it. An offer for sale online “shall be deemed to be made available on the market if the offer is targeted at end users in the Union” (Art. 6Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationArticle 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office.). Regulation 1007/2011 is on the list of legislation that Regulation covers (Annex I, point 40). A listing aimed at buyers in an EU country brings your product under the textile label rules, wherever you ship from.

The label is in the official language of the country where the consumer buys

“The labelling or marking shall be provided in the official language or languages of the Member State on the territory of which the textile products are made available to the consumer, unless the Member State concerned provides otherwise” (Art. 16(3)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 16, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). This is the one point where national law can differ: the Commission’s FAQ says no other national rule should be added on fibre composition, “except expressly provided for by the Regulation (e.g. in relation to the language …)” (FAQ 8.7).

What follows for a seller who ships to several countries:

• The default is the official language or languages of the country of sale. Selling in France, Germany and Italy means, by default, French, German and Italian.
• A label with several languages is allowed. The Regulation does not prevent a multi-lingual label, and there is no sample label (FAQ 4.2).
• Whether a given country accepts the language of another country, or English, is for that country’s law. We found no EU source that lists those national choices, and the Regulation does not list them. The label that is safe in every country is the one in that country’s own official language or languages.
• The animal-origin sentence of Article 12Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 12Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. is part of the labelling or marking, so this rule applies to it as well.

A textile product with non-textile parts of animal origin carries a fixed sentence

“The presence of non-textile parts of animal origin in textile products shall be indicated by using the phrase ‘Contains non-textile parts of animal origin’ on the labelling or marking of products containing such parts whenever they are made available on the market” (Art. 12(1)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 12, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The wording must not be misleading, and the consumer must be able to understand it easily (Art. 12(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 12, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The Commission’s FAQ adds how far it reaches (FAQ 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 8.1):

• Non-textile parts of animal origin include down, feather, bone, leather, pearl and horn.
• Small quantities count: the sentence is required “even in small quantities”.
• “In” is read widely: anything that forms part of the textile product, however it is attached, falls under the Article. Fur sewn on is one case.
• The Article applies to products that primarily fall within the Regulation (80 % textile fibres). A leather garment with less than 80 % textile fibres is outside it. The Commission names no other specific EU legislation on labelling leather goods apart from the Regulation and the Footwear Directive.

Footwear is a pointer only. Textile parts of footwear are on Annex V, so they need no fibre label. Article 12 does not apply to footwear. The labelling of footwear materials, leather included, follows Directive 94/11/EC, which the Commission’s FAQ names for this (FAQ 2.4, 5.1).

Some products need no fibre label, and some need only one label for the batch

Article 17Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 17Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. lets the Regulation’s label rules be set aside for named products. Annex V lists 42 products for which “the indication of textile fibre names or fibre composition on the labels and markings … is not required” (Art. 17(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 17, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A selection, with the Annex V number:

An Annex V product that carries a trade mark or company name containing an Annex I fibre name, or a name liable to be confused with one, is back under the label rules (Art. 17(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 17, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Annex VI lists products where one inclusive label is enough when they are of the same type and fibre composition, for example belts, ribbons, elastic, handkerchiefs, table mats, children’s ties and bow ties, bibs, washgloves and face flannels, edgings and trimmings, and sewing, mending and embroidery yarns presented for retail sale (Art. 17(3)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 17, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Fabric sold by the metre may show the composition on the length or roll (Art. 17(4)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 17, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). For both, the composition must be made known to each purchaser in the supply chain, the consumer included (Art. 17(5)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 17, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The manufacturer supplies the label, and the importer does if the manufacturer is outside the EU

Who must see that the label exists and is right is set in Art. 15Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.:

The definitions of manufacturer, importer and distributor come from Article 2Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, accreditation and market surveillance (CE marking)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, accreditation and market surveillance (CE marking)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. (Art. 3(2)Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationArticle 3, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.); the Commission’s FAQ cites Regulation (EU) 2019/1020Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Market Surveillance RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. for them. A private-label seller that puts its own brand on goods made elsewhere is the manufacturer here.

Care symbols are a trademark and are not part of EU textile law

The Textile Labelling Regulation does not cover wash or care labelling, and the Commission says there are no harmonised EU rules on telling the consumer how to wash or maintain textile products (FAQ 2.3, 6.7). The five care symbols are a private system. GINETEX, the trade body, says they are “protected trademarks in most countries”, co-owned by GINETEX and COFREET, and may not be reproduced or used without a licence agreement with GINETEX. The symbols are also the origin of the international standard ISO 3758, whose fourth edition, ISO 3758:2023, was published in December 2023.

So the answer to “which care label symbols do I need” is: none, under EU law. If you print the symbols, you do it under that licence and its guidelines. The Commission says EU countries may have additional labelling or marking requirements on subjects other than fibre composition (FAQ 8.7), and this page covers the EU Regulation only.

The revision of the Regulation is a plan, and no new text applies yet

The Commission says it is “planning to revise the EU rules on textile labelling to introduce comprehensive physical and digital labelling” of textiles, including leather and fur apparel and household products, to correct “the shortcomings of the current rules and divergent labelling requirements across EU countries”. Its Have Your Say entry for the initiative lists a proposal for a regulation. A public consultation ran from 19 December 2023 to 15 April 2024. On 5 October 2026 the entry showed the adoption stage as upcoming, with an indicative period of April to June 2026. That period has passed, and we found no proposal in the Publications Office index. Until a revised Regulation is adopted and applies, Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Textile Labelling RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. is the law. Nothing in the plan changes what you must put on a label today.

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